West-Ukrainian region launches lustration of officials

KIEV, February 23, 20:16 /ITAR-TASS/. Regional executive council of the West-Ukrainian Ternopol region, which is known to be one of the mainstays of nationalism and far-right radicalism, has announced the start of the process of ‘lustration’ that is due to embrace government officials, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcers.

The beginning of lustration procedures was made public Sunday in a resolution issued by the chairman of the council, Vasyl Khomynets.

“To prevent a repetition of errors committed in 1991 and 2005, the Ternopol regional executive council in cooperation with public associations and the Maidan launches a process of lustration of government officials, prosecutors, judges, and law enforcers,” the resolution said.

Lustration, a word derived from the Latin verb ‘lustrare’, has the most immediate meaning of “purification by expiatory sacrifice, ceremonial washing, or some other ritual action.”

It came into broad circulation in the former member-states of the East-European bloc a number of former Soviet republics after they declared themselves independent from the USSR in 1990 and 1991. At present, it most typically means elimination of members of one or another ‘unwelcome’ political organization - most typically the Communist Party - from the corps of government and judiciary officials and civil servants.

The years mentioned by Khomynets signify the disintegration of the USSR and the ‘orange revolution’ of 2005.